Lighten Up! Series

Lighten Up?

Opening Video: Patch Adams Joy

Have you ever know or seen someone so wound up they were fixing to burst?

It can be a sad sight. Have you been in that place where you were so stressed out or wound up that you lost all your joy?

Are you living with Joy in your life or you letting your life dictacte your level of happiness?

Do you want to know how to live a life that is filled with Joy even in rough times.

Did you know that there is a difference between Joy and Happiness.

I know they seem to be the same thing, but they are not.

Happiness and joy come from two different sources.

One comes from the world around us, the other from the Spirit of God.

Happiness is conditional. It is dependant upon what’s “happening” to me-my circumstances. If people treat me good, if things are going well (as I have expected or planned), then I am happy. If people are treating me poorly, if things are not going well (according to plan or expectation) then I am not happy.

JOY on the other hand is not conditional. It is described throughout the Bible as a

quality of life that transcends the events and disasters which hinder us (circumstances).

The Bible speaks of joy over 330 times.

Happiness is mentioned just 26 times.

As you can see Joy is talked about a whole lot more in the Bible.

So how do we Lighten up, well we have to tear down the joy killers in our life and connect with the joy giver.

Big Idea: Tear down the joy killers and connect with the joy giver!

If we want to live this life in Joy we have to learn how to overcome the wall that try to block or steel our Joy.

Gal 5:22-24 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. NLT

1) To tear down the Joy killers we have to deal with Unfilled Expectations

A. Life isn’t going the way you expected it to.

Maybe your marriage, career, the kids, financially, relationship wise, job, and maybe with where you are in life in general.

One thing is for certain; life is full of uncertainty.

B. Discontentment can become a joy killer.

Phil 4:12-14 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13 For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need. NLT

Notice Paul uses the word here “secret”. There’s a mystery about it. Also, he had to “learn” to live with unfilled expectations.

C. We have to learn to be content with whatever and where ever we are in life.

Story: EVERYTHING I NEED “I have everything I need for joy!” Robert Reed said. His hands are twisted and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or put on his underwear. Strips of Velcro hold his shirts together. His speech drags like a worn out audiocassette.

Robert has cerebral palsy.

The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending Abilene Christian University, from which he graduate with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at St. Louis Junior College or from venturing overseas on five mission trips.

And Robert’s disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal.

He moved to Lisbon, alone, in 1972. There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would instruct him in the language.

Then he stationed himself daily in a park, where he distributed brochures about Christ. Within six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife, Rosa.

I heard Robert speak recently. I watched other men carry him in his wheelchair onto the platform. I watched them lay a Bible in his lap. I watched his stiff fingers force open the pages. And I watched people in the audience wipe away tears of admiration from their faces. Robert could have asked for sympathy or pity, but he did just the opposite. He held his bent hand up in the air and boasted, “I have everything I need for joy.”